Rahab who lived on the edge of the city of Jericho is revealed in the book of Joshua in Hebrew Scriptures as a pretty shrewd and plucky character. What would you do if two foreign spies showed up at your house and sought shelter? These two shady characters were sent by Joshua to scout out the city to try to get that Canaanite city to fall into Joshua’s hands.
Rahab has a keen eye, and sees these spies correctly as emissaries on behalf of the God of Israel, whom she had heard had led people out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, which miraculously parted so that they could escape. She was intrigued by this God’s display of power on behalf of a beleaguered people, and intuits that she can trust the spies. She covers them in a bed of straw and diverts attention from them even when the king comes to her door trying to hunt them down.
Now, there is the whole problem of the Israelites taking over this already inhabited land of Canaan- and Rahab is trapped in a geopolitical tangled web. She has to discern who to protect and who to deceive. She is portrayed as making a faithful decision in the face of difficult circumstances.
I wonder about our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and Russia. How are they similarly faced with having to come down on the side of betraying some and defending others? They were neighbors, and certainly there must be some who are trapped in the middle.
The quick wit of standing up for what is right comes out of a heart that is bent toward the “arc of justice” as Martin Luther King says. It requires positioning ourselves in places where we hear the groundswell of grace from those on the margin. It means stilling the voice of greed and glory in favor of the quieter realms of intuition and imagination. Even in the midst of unclear paths forward, there can still be determination and resolve. Rahab reminds us of the sense of knowing the right decision in the moment, and having the resolve to act on it.
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